Wound dressings, including Band-Aid.RTM. brand wound dressings, generally include an opaque backing layer having an adhesive applied to one side for adhering to the skin. A protective layer, typically made of a release paper is applied to the adhesive side of the backing layer and is releasable therefrom when the wound dressing is applied to the skin. The area immediately covering the wound often has a gauze pad which may be impregnated with an antibacterial agent or the like.
Wound dressings as described above and as disclosed, for example, in N. R. Dibelius, U.S. Pat. No. 3,367,329, must be removed in order for the individual and/or the physician to view the wound. Once the wound dressing is removed it may become contaminated or difficult to put back on the wound. Therefore, removal of the wound dressing often necessitates replacing the old wound dressing with a new one, which can be stressful to the individual.
Excessive use of wound dressings is also apparent when young children obtain superficial wounds such as minor cuts, abrasions and the like. Children are naturally curious and they often prematurely remove a wound dressing to view their wound and to show it to their friends. Each time a wound dressing is removed, it is often difficult to reapply the same wound dressing because the adhesive layer loses its tackiness and the like. Accordingly, the number of wound dressings used during the healing of minor cuts and abrasions, particularly with children, is often greater than what might otherwise be expected.
A wound dressing was developed which enables the wound to be viewed without removing the wound dressing. In particular, O. L. Johns, U.S. Pat. No. 4,513,739, discloses an external wound dressing which may have a backing material made entirely out of a transparent polyurethane film. When the wound dressing is applied to the skin, the wound is always visible. While such a wound dressing enables the individual to view the wound without removing the dressing, permanent visibility has its disadvantages.
In particular, many individuals do not want to see their wound. In some cases, the wound is unpleasant to look at. Indeed, some individuals find the viewing of particularly onerous wounds very stressful and unpleasant and, therefore, would prefer wound dressings which completely hide the wound from view. As a result, the individual and/or physician must decide between opaque wound dressings which do not allow the wound to be viewed in the absence of removing the wound dressing, and transparent wound dressings in which the wound is permanently open to view. Quite obviously, each such wound dressing has its disadvantages.
It would be a significant advance in the wound dressing industry to provide a wound dressing in which (a) the wound could be viewed by the individual and/or physician without removing the wound dressing and (b) the wound could be covered when the viewing of the wound is not desired.